Don't Count of Oceania to treat you fairly

[rallydave]

I got my visa in September for an October trip through Genvisa. If the rules have changed, that must have happened within the past two months. The last Brazil visa we had expired after five years, so it is nice to have the ten years this time.

 

The use within 90 days for the Brazilian Visa is absolutely not true at least for US Citizens using a US Passport. Got my Brazilian Visa in November 2012 for our World Cruise which departed the US in early January 2013 and that didn't reach Brazil until April 2013 much longer than the 90 day stated and we had no issues using the Visa.

 

In fact, it would have been impossible to have gotten our Brazilian Visa for use within the incorrectly stated 90 days as we were on board our ship more than 90 days prior to reaching Brazil so this is absolutely NOT a recent change.

 

From memory, believe it was people other than US citizens who had to use their Visa within 90 days of receipt but, don't believe it was ever a requirement for US Citizens. Our Visas are valid for 10 years until Nov. 2022.

 

It does no good to scare people with this 90 day myth for US Citizens using US Passports.

[Benita]

Dave, I can not fathom a reason why I would want to scare people. I was just sharing what was on my visa information, but since you are the expert, I will defer to you. I hope you are right - it would make everybody's life easier - I had to take a cruise without my passport, using a birth certificate, as there was not enough time after the cruise to get the visa before my Brazil trip and it would have been great to have gotten it earlier, but both my tour company and the visa service company told me the same thing about timing. Glad to have such an expert as yourself on cruise critic and not have to rely on what we usually consider the official word.

[nana541]

Ok guess I was not hallucinating!

 

 

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[nana541]

It appears you may both be correct. Brazil apparently offers both "Short Term & Long Term" Visa. I have only heard on this board of the 5/10 yr Visa....

 

Copied from the official Brazil Visa site.

 

Brazil Visa Validity:

The visa validity and duration of stay per visit is at the discretion of the Brazilian Consulate. Long-duration visas (valid for 5 or 10 years, for instance) are valid from the day they were issued. Short-duration visas (valid for 30 or 90 days, for example) are valid from the date of first entry into Brazil. All visa holders, regardless of nationality or visa validity date, may only stay in Brazil for up to 90 days per year, unless otherwise noted on the visa. An extension of the original 90 days may be granted by the Federal Police Department in Brazil, yet total stay cannot exceed 180 days a year, unless otherwise noted.

 

If your Brazilian visa is still valid and your passport expires, you can get a new passport and carry both the new (valid) passport and the old one (with the visa) when you travel to Brazil.

 

 

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[rallydave]

Dave, I can not fathom a reason why I would want to scare people. I was just sharing what was on my visa information, but since you are the expert, I will defer to you. I hope you are right - it would make everybody's life easier - I had to take a cruise without my passport, using a birth certificate, as there was not enough time after the cruise to get the visa before my Brazil trip and it would have been great to have gotten it earlier, but both my tour company and the visa service company told me the same thing about timing. Glad to have such an expert as yourself on cruise critic and not have to rely on what we usually consider the official word.

 

I apologize for accusing you of scaring people but, this issue seems to come up way too often and can scare people who fail to perform a simple search or simply ask the Brazilians the correct question.

 

Just did an internet search and did find a couple of sites that stated the use within 90 days requirement but, many more without that requirement and perhaps people confuse the 90 days to use with the requirement that the Visa is only valid for stays for a maximum of 90 days but, the ability to reenter within the 10 year validity.

 

Did even find a site that had a picture of a visa with the requirement to enter Brazil within 90 days but, that was from 2004 so appears the 90 day entry requirement was a rule 10 years ago.

 

Am surprised you were able to cruise without a passport and only a birth certificate as the passport requirement to board almost all cruise ships has been around for many years. Believe years ago, people could cruise to several countries with only a birth certificate but, many years ago and that might have had something to do with the visa requirement of many years ago.

 

As I stated, I speak from experience of about 2 years ago and sure you cruise line would schedule a cruise that passengers could not get a valid visa for.

 

Hopefully this will put to bed the need to use a Brazilian Passport withing 90 days of issuance.

 

And, everyone have a very happy new year!!!!

[Benita]

You can cruise with a birth certificate and official photo ID (like a drivers license) if you are doing a "Closed Jaw" cruise - one that starts and ends in the same port in the US for Caribbean cruises. Unfortunately, if you miss the ship in one of the islands, or have to be evacuated from one of the Caribbean islands that is not part of the US, you are out of luck. Ditto for using a passport card. Needless to say, I was not thrilled with traveling that way, but had no choice with the time constraints.

I pulled out my passport and the Brazil visa that I received in October stated that it was valid for ten years and does not mention the 90 day rule as was on my previous visa of 12 years ago.When I google the topic, there are mixed answers, but many do say what you wrote about not having the 90 day rule for the initial use for US citizens, but others say the opposite, as did the paperwork I received from Genvisa.

Sure wish life was less confusing, but with the constant changes in requirements (12 years ago, we needed to purchase a Chilean visa at the airport and did not need one for Argentine - now it is the opposite and there was no Chilean requirement for US citizens, but we had to get one online for Argentina), I am happy to have that validation stamp on my Brazil page, because who knows what will happen with the requirements in days and years to come.